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Giuliani Says FBI Tipped Him to Clinton Inquiry

(CN) - Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a high-profile surrogate for Donald Trump, admitted on national television Friday that he knew in advance the FBI was going to reopen its investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails.

It was a week ago that FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to Congress telling them the agency had discovered a trove of Clinton emails during a separate investigation, and it was going to reopen its inquiry into the Democratic presidential candidate's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.

It later developed the emails were on a laptop seized as part of the FBI's ongoing investigation of former Congressman Anthony Weiner's alleged sexting with an underaged North Carolina girl.

Weiner is the estranged husband of Hillary Clinton's top confidante and aide Huma Abedin.

Appearing on the "Fox and Friends" television program Friday morning, Giuliani said he knew of Comey's decision to reopen the case before it was public knowledge.

"I did nothing to get it out, I had no role in it," Giuliani said. "Did I hear about it? You're darn right I heard about it, and I can't even repeat the language that I heard from the former FBI agents."

The admission raises questions about the relationship between the nation's top domestic law-enforcement agency and the Trump campaign.

Last week, while appearing on another Fox News show, and two days prior to Comey's sending his letter to Congress, Giuliani said the Trump campaign has "a couple of surprises left."

"You'll see, and I think it will be enormously effective," he said.

Comey's announcement that the FBI is again looking at emails linked to Clinton's private server had an immediate impact of the race for the presidency.

Prior to Comey's letter becoming public, Clinton appeared to be cruising to a certain victory on Nov. 8. Since then, every national poll has shown the race tightening considerably.

Comey has faced withering criticism since releasing his letter from both Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats have claimed the FBI director inappropriately interfered with a presidential election, while Republicans said the his revelation provided more proof Clinton was treated differently than others would have been during the investigation.

US Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid wrote a strident letter to Comey last weekend, accusing him of breaking a 1939 law that prevents top officials in the executive branch of government from engaging in partisan activity.

"I am writing to inform you that my office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act," Reid said in his letter to Comey. "Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law."

Clinton herself called upon Comey and the FBI to release more details about the investigation while expressing confidence the result of it would be the same as the last time the agency had looked at her emails — that she had done nothing criminal.

Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, has close associations with many in the FBI, as he explained on Friday.

"I sure have a lot of friends who are retired FBI agents, close, personal friends," he said. "All I heard were former FBI agents telling me that there's a revolution going on inside the FBI and it's now at a boiling point."

Giuliani further claimed that he knew of the FBI's renewed interest in the Clinton emails for about a month.

"I had expected this for the last, honestly, to tell you the truth, I thought it was going to be about three or four weeks ago, because way back in July this started, they kept getting stymied looking for subpoenas, looking for records," he said.

Multiple news reports have said the FBI knew about the Clinton-related emails on Abedin's computer for weeks, but decided to wait until 11 days before the election to make a public announcement.

A spokesman for the FBI declined to comment on Giuliani's statements.

A representative of the Clinton campaign has not responded to a request for comment.

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